Off the Record, Vol. 13

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The wettest gossip this side of a Slurpee gets deep with PSX2, Bleem, and Ubi Soft.

By Douglass C. Perry

This, our fine IGNPS2 readers, is what we call "Off the Record." It's our outlet for outrageous, outlandish, or just plain out-there rumors that we hear in our day-to-day dealings in the game industry. The fact is, we find out so many things, not all of them fit into our formidable news format. While most have a ring of truth to them, these are rumors -- so don't castrate us if the following tidbits don't pan out exactly as we report six months later.

All's Square that ends Square Well, the rumor has been out for ages, and it's getting more detailed and gushy now than ever. SaGa Frontier 2 is coming closer to the U.S. than ever before. Our secret agent forces have learned that out of the ten or so games that Square plans to publish in the US, SaGa Frontier 2 is one of them. The only reason it may not land here in the U.S. - and it's a big IF - is that its first outing produced poor sales results.

Square also plans on bringing out another game, a collection of sorts, that we can't mention just yet. But just you wait; this "set" of games is sure to bring sheer joy to RPG fans.

Is PSX in Trouble In a strange situation that boggles the craggy hardcore pockets of our minds, Ubi Soft is rumored to be bringing Tonic Trouble to the PlayStation. What is true is that Sony wants more platformers to appear on its 32-bit system. But will the exclusively made Tonic made the jump? Rayman 2 is coming, and it's possible that the folks developing that game can reinvent the Tonic engine in the same manner as Rayman. Ubi Soft did not call us back in time for a comment for confirmation or denial. If it does come, it's martini time.

Blim, Blam, Bleem! In what appears to be another giant thorn in the side of Sony's console efforts, the PC emulating company Bleem, Llc is readying its commercial emulator, Bleem, for an official launch in less than a month.

Bleem is emulation software that enables PlayStation games to play on PCs, and from a dozen or so sources we hear that the games play "wicked fast." In fact, you actually need to adjust the software to play the game slower for a more realistic experience.

PSX DVD Although the majority of rumors swirling around the secret PlayStation 2 are still nothing but rumors (except for the stuff we publish, of course), the perfectly rhythmic sound of a DVD player is chiming better and better in our ears these days.

In an EE Times article, Peter Glaskowsky senior analyst for 3D graphics and multimedia at the Microprocessor Report, said "It would be a big thing to bring DVD-quality video to a game."

While that's mere talk, other serious chatter among more inside sources are thinking much the same. Aside from the standard videogame media banter, serious engineers, developers, and programmers around the world are discussing the actual practicalities and advantages of the PlayStation 2's DVD as a real-live medium.

While the existence of MPEG-2 support in the media processor appears more and more likely, it still doesn't confirm DVD in the PSX2. But along with the made-from-scratch chips and processors in the PSX2, it only makes sense that Sony would be the first to use the up-and-coming DVD storage medium.